Horrors
by hColleen
Summary: Kurama meets the...girl of his dreams...or nightmares...


Waves broke against the rocks, splashing high enough to reach the trunks of the hardy trees that managed to thrive on the edge of the cliff. Storm clouds painted the sky a deep grey even though the sun behind them was moving toward noon. Rain had not begun to fall yet, but the air was so heavy, it was only a matter of time. The wind that had been driving the waves and trees frantically was beginning to still as if Nature was gathering her breath for what was to come next. Everything was still, tense, drawing up then cracked, exploded as light jumped from a tree to the clouds, freeing the rain the air had been holding on to in a torrent that made the waves look gentle. The wind roared again, drowning out the sound of the waves below, disguising the sound of the rain as it struck whatever was in its path.

Red hair was pulled into a ragged ensign as green eyes surveyed the fury that tore around him. Despite the strength of the wind, he stood, unmoved, unmoving except for his hair. How long had he been there was uncertain, though his skin bore marks of prolonged exposure, redness from the sun and win cracking his once fair face. His eyes focused far away, searching, remembering, ut never quite on where he was, as though trapped within Merlin's Cave.

Before, back to a time when the storm didn't rage, before those eyes were searching, before he was trapped, he was well know, the great thief Youko Kurama, the human changeling Minamino Shuichi. Now, he could not remember his name, nor who and what he had been. Between then and now, one single event changed him, one thing touched and stole his mind. One thing could restore him, but the chances of that occurring were slim at best.

To understand, let us turn back to before, to explore the events that led to this current state.

The only thing different about that day was the new student. That, in and of itself, was remarkable enough, but this student, a girl, by all evidence, stood out radically from other transfer students. She wore black despite the pink uniforms, her black hair hung lankly around her body, her face was pale, made paler by what looked like an application of paint, black paint on her lips and around her eyes. Exactly what color those eyes were was uncertain, lowered or shadowed as they seemed to constantly be. Anger, resentment, apathy radiated from her in waves, pushing away students and starting ripples of whispers as she passed by them to take the seat next to Kurama as she'd been directed.

She more fell into the chair than sat and glared at Kurama, challenging and condemning him for failing at that challenge at once. Her attitude didn't change at all when he complied with the teacher's request to share his books with her.

It took a good deal of control to avoid saying anything to her, though several comments sprung into Kurama's mind so strongly he could feel his mouth forming the words without moving. Between his reputation and as strongly as she projected, he managed, just, to keep his comments silent even when she glared at him before flouncing out of the class at the end of the day.

"Someone you know?" Kaito asked, approaching Kurama once he was sure she wouldn't be back.

Shaking his head, his eyes on the door, Kurama said, "No, never seen her before. I think I'd remember that."

"She acts like you're supposed to be all over her or something. Who'd want that kind of girl?" Kaito shuddered as he handed Kurama a broom

"I think that is supposed to be American emo."

"Potatoes?"

Kurama laughed. "No, emo, from emotional. I think they try to make themselves lonely."

Shaking his head again, Kaito began sweeping. "It appears to work."

Kurama let the conversation die. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. Just what, he wasn't sure, but he'd lived too long to ignore such strong feelings. They had saved his hide far too often, even if they were sometimes wrong and sometimes missing all together.

Once his chores were done, he slipped away from his fanclub and made use of his skills to track the girl. As he stalked his prey, he tried to remember what her name was. Something insane, like Moonchild Honeyblossom Fairechild. As she hadn't spoken in class, or written, or looked at the books he'd shared with her, as near as he could tell, he wasn't even sure she understood or spoke Japanese. Why was she there?

Irritatingly, Kurama lost the trail in a block of apartments and he couldn't tell which building, much less which floor of the multistory warrens she'd gone into and there were too many people around for him to use his nose. Tail figuratively between his legs and lip literally between his teeth, he slunk home.

The next morning, a very strong urge to turn and leave almost overwhelmed Kurama when he reached the door of the classroom. Only the finest of reflexes kept him upright when a girl with long black hair in what seemed an impossible configuration in the brief second he saw it leapt at him, arms somehow managing to cling to his neck. Far too much perfume was the next impression he was able to sort out as a sneeze beat against his sinuses. High pitched noises that sorted themselves into the babble he'd only heard on youtube videos of very stupid American girls who wore cat ears.

He flailed, trying to figure out how to untangle himself from whoever this girl was. He was spared the trouble wen she released his neck for his hands and began bouncing. Her hair somehow managed to rise six inches from where it was gathered into a ponytail then fall in two sections that didn't mingle. Her eyes were... He had to blink to be sure, but they were indeed lavender. Her outfit was, if possible, even worse. He was absolutely sure that no skirt that short could cover a girl's panties, much less anything those panties were meant to cover. There was about eight inches of skin between that gallant bit of fabric and the attempt at a shirt above it, complete with sailor collar.

"How?" he stammered, unable to finish, unable to decide which part of this to question first.

It didn't matter. The girl didn't seem to hear him. She pulled him forward and shoved a bento box in his face so enthusiastically, he had no choice but to take it from her.

"Umm..." he tried only to have the girl start rattling on about how she'd worked so hard on the lunch and how much she adored him, how they were destined to be together and fate had brought them together.

Kurama's expression slowly drained, his jaw droppinng as his eyes glazed over, completely lost in her train of thought.

When she touched him again, Kurama's mind lurched back to him with a full-body shudder. "Excuse me," he said, bowing just enough to be polite. He managed not to run until after he closed the door and counted it a victory. He locked himself in a bathroom stall, praying Inari the girl-creature would not be so bold as to search him out there.

Kaito found him there an hour later. "She went home," he said as he entered the bathroom.

Kurama cracked the stall door. "Are you sure?" he whispered.

The amusement that danced inn Kaito's eyes didn't reach his voice. "Yes. I watched her leave the gate."

Kurama stepped out of the stall. "Thank you for not laughing," he said solemnly.

"I'm not stupid," Kaito said, turning to leave. Kurama could hear him laughing as he walked down the hall.

That night, Kurama went straight home. He didn't want to risk running into her again. Very few things frightened The Youko Kurama. That female was fast becoming one of them.

His dreams were filled with the most horrible of anime-based cliches, moving onto those he'd only seeinn in doujinshi he'd 'accidentally' found and deliberately read.

He woke in a state near panic and hoping for some crisis in the spirit world to take hi away from school for the rest of the week, if not the rest of his life as a human.

He was not to be blessed by the gods of luck that day, though. The sky was beautifully blue, the birds sand and Yusuke bitched at him sleepily when he'd called. Even Hiei wasn't around to offer distraction. What dreadful fate would wait for him when he reached his class?

What fresh hell is this? crossed his mind as he heard her voice drifting through the door. For the mment, the determination to stand up adn prove himself held sway. Upon opening the door and seeing the sea of white lace topped with long black hair, the instinct for survival took over and he ran, fast and hard, for the nearest exit.

To his utter horror, she was there, waiting, a bouquet of white roses in her hands. "It's fate," she screeched.

As fast as he could, and blessing his demonic reflexes, Kurama back-peddled, retreating, not even thinking about his dignity or reputation. He had to get away, far away.

She was at the next exit.

Kurama screamed in horror, dodging into a classroom and out the window.

She was right where he was going to land, arms open.

He twisted in midair and just avoided her arms. He wasn't even sure what he feared, but he know, in his gut, that he did not want to be caught.

He almost stopped and asked how she could be at the gate when he reached it, but that would have required talking to her and he didn't want to do that. He vaulted to the side, an impossible movement for a human, but he didn't care, and landed on the top of the fence around the school, dropping lightly to the ground once he was sure that she wouldn't be where he was going to land. He could feel her right behind him as he ran though and didn't want to take the risk of looking behind himself just to see her so close that she caught him.

He thought he saw her ahead of him, a foam of white at the light ahead of him. He dodged down an alleyway and made his way to the top of the buildings, leaping from roof to roof without a clear destination in mind. Every roof he leapt to, she was there, waiting for him. Leave Tokyo, he thought. If he got away from Tokyo, he'd get away from her. Or, at least that's what he thought.

The buildings began to thin as he reached the edges of the city, but the trees soon thickened to where he could use those. His sightings of her became less frequent, but still often enough to spur him into continuing to run away. He couldn't even explain to himself why he kept running, only that he had to get away from her, stay away at any cost.

He was soon running out of land, approaching the sea. Glimpses of white through the trees kept him running. There had to be more than one, for the number of white things he saw following him, peeking out from between the trees.

He kept running until he reached a cliff and couldn't go any farther without base diving into the ocean and there were too many rocks at the base of the cliff for him to be that desperate. Yes, like most demons, he could control just how far he traveled while falling and had a lot more control of his body while in the air, but there was a limit and he didn't trust that she wouldn't somehow appear out of the waves.

Kurama turned, skidding as he stopped, trying to put the sea at his back, to give himself fewer directions to defend. His feet were spread wide, his hands coming up to defend himself, his eyes narrowed, watching the forest.

A laugh caused him to turn around. She was floating , her feet level to his, standing on nothing. "You will marry me!" she declared. "You're MINE and MINE ALONE," she screeched. The sound echoed around and there were dozens of wedding dress-clad black-haired girls surrounding him, floating in the air with her, in the forest, above him, all saying the same thing, all screeching.

Kurama turned, looking for an opening, but they were even below him, blocking his ability to leap into the ocean, even though he knew the fall would destroy him. He turned, twisted, trying to find a way out. Why he was loathe to attack, he couldn't have said, only that he had utterly no desire to come into contact with her, even through the vector of his weapons, even those that he didn't directly touch while attacking. "I will not marry you," he said, turning, trying to keep all of them in sight even though he knew there was no way for him to keep his eyes on all directions.

A growl rose from every throat surrounding him. "We are MEANT TO BE! YOU WILL BE MINE! OUR BABIES WILL BE BEAUTIFUL AND POWERFUL!"

Babies...there would be babies? Kurama shuddered, the horrors of it sinking into his mind, snapping those connections that he was sure could never be touched. His hands fell, limp at his sides. Babies...children with this...this i_thing/i_ was a horror deeper than anything he'd ever contemplated before, deeper even than the revulsion and dread he had of death.

They flew at him, converging on him. Kurama shuddered, his mind seeking the only escape he could find that didn't involve touching them; he shut down, staring out at the sea. When they converged on him, there was a flash of light and they vanished, but it was too late. Kurama's mind had shut down so completely that only the most basic functions continued, breathing and the small movements that kept him upright. He couldn't process anything that came in through his senses. His mind couldn't understand that the threat was gone. He couldn't understand that the threat was gone. The great Youko Kurama had been reduced to a statue by an apparition too terrible for him to face.

The storm passed and the sun came out, its light weak, struggling to pass through the humidity that hung thickly in the air. Kurama was soaked to the skin, not for the first time, his eyes still vacantly searching, his mind trapped in the haze of white and black that had tried to swallow him.

"Damn fox," Hiei muttered as he pushed his way into the clearing. He was wet to the skin, as well, his hair still managing to reach for the sky, though. He showed signs of exposure, as well, though more in that his clothing was dirty, torn in places, his skin reddened by the sun, but not chapped and cracked the way Kurama's was. Irritation darkened his red eyes as he surveyed Kurama's immobile form. "Damn fox," he muttered again, circling Kurama until he stood in front of the redhead. Scowling, he raised his hand and backhanded Kurama hard enough that Kurama hit one of the trees, tilting it, before sliding down to sit on the ground.

Kurama blinked, his hand trembling as it came up to touch his cheek. He looked around, trying to see if he was still surrounded by white, trying to take everything in without seeming like he was and failing utterly. Finally, his eyes came to rest on Hiei. It took three tries before he was able to say the demon's name.

"What the hell were you doing out here?" Hiei demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kurama made a face, which made him aware of just how badly his skin was damaged, and sighed. "I was confronted by something I didn't know how to escape," he admitted, his expression and voice showing just how embarrassing that was to admit. His hand moved to his hair and then away when he felt how badly tangled it was. "A...an apparition in white with long black hair that wanted to..." he shuddered "marry me. She...she surrounded me and I didn't want to touch her, not even with flower petals. Somehow, I knew that if I touched her, I'd be drawn in."

"You're an idiot," Hiei said flatly, turning to leave.

"You're right," Kurama sighed, pushing himself up, his whole body trembling as he reached his feet. He felt queasy when he started walking. "How long?" he asked when he caught up to Hiei, relieved that the smaller demon was walking slowly.

"A month."

"Ah," Kurama said, lapsing into silence and grabbing what edible things he could find as they walked so that by the time they reached civilization again, his huger had abated to much more tolerable levels. He also found a few plants to ease the pain his skin was enduring. He couldn't fully restore it until he'd restored his energy enough to use his youki. Though, why Hiei's skin suffered, he didn't understand. Hiei should have been able to prevent any damage...unless... "Were you worried about me?" he asked softly.

"Hn," was the only answer Hiei gave him, the only answer Kurama was going to get in response to that question.

"Thanks," Kurama said, lapsing back into silence. "I owe you," he added when they reached his house.

Hiei's expression was unreadable as he said, "I'll take it from you later. Like this, I have no use for you."

Kurama flinched. "Have no use for me?" he asked.

Hiei crossed his arms over his chest, turning to face Kurama. "You need to eat, bathe, restore yourself. When you have recovered, I fully intend to make use of you. And don't tell me you're recovered. I can see you fighting to remain upright."

Kurama laughed, more relieved than he should have been. "Very well. When you deem I am ready for your use, I shall avail myself to you."

Hiei nodded and left, darting off over the roofs, leaving Kurama to explain to his mother what had happened, or some variation on it, and to recover.


End file.
